Universal Abstraction

Universal Abstraction

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  Pablo Picasso, Palette, pinceaux, livre de Victor Hugo, 1911. Estimate $5,000,000–7,000,000.

  The wordless dialogue of abstraction across borders is perhaps best witnessed through an evaluation of the tradition of Geometric Abstraction, which initially emerged as the logical conclusion to the Cubist destruction and reevaluation of the conventions of form and space. Initiated by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, Cubism was a fundamental influence on later generations of Abstractionists; Picasso’s 1911 painting Palette, Pinceaux, Livre de Victor Hugo in the Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale is a spectacular example of this groundbreaking aesthetic.
  
  

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  Kazimir Malevich, Suprematist Composition with Plane in Projection, 1915. Estimate $12,000,000–18,000,000.

  Out of Cubism came an even more dramatic reduction of form and consolidation of space with the rise of Suprematism, championed by Kazimir Malevich, whose painting Suprematist Composition with Plane in Projection is also a featured highlight of the Impressionist & Modern Evening Sale.
  
  

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  Kurt Schwitters, Blau (Blue), 1923–26. Estimate $4,000,000–6,000,000.

  The breakthrough technical and conceptual projects of artists such as Picasso and Malevich were followed and built upon by Dada artist Kurt Schwitters, whose three-dimensional composition Blau (Blue) suggests a space beyond the frame of the picture. 
  
  
  

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  Joan Miró, Composition (Projet Pour un Mural de Céramique Destiné au Wilhelm-Hack-Museum de Ludwigshafen, Allemagne), 1978. Estimate $2,500,000–3,500,000.

  Surrealists such as Jean Arp and Joan Miró also created work that formed building blocks for the subsequent advancement of Abstraction. In Composition (Projet Pour un Mural de Céramique Destiné au Wilhelm-Hack-Museum De Ludwigshafen, Allemagne) Miró combines abstract figuration and pure Abstraction in an incredibly energetic, fugue-like symphonic composition.
  
  

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  Takeo Yamaguchi, Yellow Eyes, 1959. Estimate $200,000–300,000.

  The pioneering developments of the first generation of European abstract artists were absorbed and represented in a number of equivalent artistic evolutions throughout the course of the 20th century. In Japan, the influence was palpable: Takeo Yamaguchi’s 1959 painting Yellow Eyes in the Contemporary Art Evening Auction is strongly evocative of Malevich’s stark geometric style.
  
  

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  Blinky Palermo, Rot/Gelb, 1968. Estimate $1,500,000–2,000,000.

  In Eastern Europe, artists like Blinky Palermo similarly embraced a hyper-reductive aesthetic with works such as his phenomenal Rot/Gelb of 1968, wherein he united the legacy of European abstraction with the concurrent domination of Minimalism.
  
  

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  Agnes Martin, Untitled #13, 1980. Estimate $5,000,000–7,000,000.

  Agnes Martin, represented by her superb painting Untitled #13 , worked directly from this tradition in the Unites States, creating a career-long body of work that celebrated the simple elegance of gridded spatial organization and subtle tonal variation.
  
  

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  Gego, Columna Reticulárea, 1969. Estimate $1,000,000–1,500,00.

  In Latin America, transformative artists like Gego took the European consideration of alternative interpretations of space into the third dimension, creating stunning iron wire constructions such as Columna Reticulárea , which will be offered in the Latin American Contemporary Art evening sale.
  
  
  

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  Mira Schendel, Untitled, from the series ,i>Droguinhas (Little Nothings), 1966. Estimate $1,200,000–1,800,000.

  Gego was followed by one of the most significant artists of the post-war period across multiple cultural traditions, Mira Schendel, whose major 1966 hanging sculpture Untitled , From the series Droguinhas (Little Nothings) we have chosen to present in a new context for her work, the Contemporary Art Evening Auction. She was the subject of an incredible retrospective at the Tate Modern in 2013-2014, and this work is a superb example from probably her most sought-after series.
  
  

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    Type: video

    Category: Impressionist & Modern Art

    Gustav Klimt’s Scarlet Sitter
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    Type: video

    Category: Contemporary Art

    Up Close: Mark Bradford's ‘Untitled’
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    Type: video

    Category: Impressionist & Modern Art

    The Progression of Claude Monet
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    Type: video

    Perception: Cai Xiaosong